Setbacks
by BluBaron45
Summary: Trivial tribulations escalate as Charlie becomes head of a small, narcotic gang during his Junior year of High School along with a few other overachieving honor students who begin to participate in this extra-curricular, criminal activity.
1. Synopsis and Author's Notes

The Unspoiling Synopsis:

"Setbacks" is a sequel I wrote to _Perks of Being a Wallflower_ written by Stephen Chbosky that takes place in Charlie's junior year of high school. The story begins with Charlie writing letters to his "friend" once again about a deal which a fellow honors student named George makes with him, selling narcotics to fellow students. Charlie, being experienced in selling narcotics, begins to create his own gang and soon takes control of not only the clubs he helped established, but also the gangs he created.

The creation of it would create an ordeal of violence among the students of Charlie's school as the the gang becomes more and more powerful. Trivial tribulations escalate as Charlie becomes head of a small, narcotic gang during his Junior year of High School along with a few other overachieving honor students who begin to participate in this extra-curricular criminal activity.

Author's Notes:

Those of you who have read _Perks of Being a Wallflower_ (or at least seen the 2012 film) will be familiar with a few of the characters as most of them will be OC characters. The story was influenced by perhaps one of the most underrated films ever made, "Better Luck Tomorrow." As this theme is inspired

This fanfiction is interpreted, as it was in _Perks of Being a Wallflower_, through Charlie's perspective as he becomes popular among students as the leader of the local narcotics gang, established by fellow honor students.

The writing styles are not very accurate to Charlie's, but I've gotten as close as I could towards his writing style. Although it is a rather different, the reader could assume that one reason why the style is different is due to Charlie's aging and that these letters will be written with haste in order to save time.

As I will be starting a new semester in college, I would like to apologize for any future delays on this fanfiction. If this fanfiction (which I doubt) becomes popular, there may be a few delays on time due to me being in college due to rigorous researching and studying. I am currently a STEM major who is trying to excel in my classes to achieve a Physics degree at California Polytechnic University of Pomona. This fanfiction is something I will write about on my spare time.

Another future reference: I will also be introducing novels and movies that Charlie will be talking about throughout these letters, all rights go to the people affiliated with these novels and books. Again, all rights go to Stephen Chbosky and to those affiliated with the creation of the 2012 film.

Written: Saturday, December 20, 2014

Published: Saturday, December 20, 2014

Edited: N/A


	2. Chapter 1: Beginning of a New Start

August 31, 1993

Dear friend,

It has been quite a while since I have been writing to you since Sophomore Year, please excuse some of the things I wrote about, they were not really that serious. Honest. I'd promise myself I would write to you when I had the time and when something interesting was going to happen, so here it goes

All names again will be made-up names so their identities are to be safe from anyone knowing and I want to let you know that I will be probably disposing of these letters (I don't know how yet) soon after they are completed in order to cause from anyone who wants to get at these letters for evidence. These are nonetheless memoirs of what might unfold in the following weeks, if anything happens at all.

I'm sure you're wondering how I am doing and as much as I am safe to say that I'm doing well, some things are still there that kind of bother me but nonetheless, they're not as serious as when I was a freshman. Like the many boring and drab tasks that occur in High School, I try to hang in there. It still is only the first week back to school after all.

I made a few friends since the end of my freshmen year and I now occasionally hang out with the Drama Group during lunch or I see Bill sometimes and we talk about the books I've been reading for fun. Also, I joined "the Silver Tongue Society" which are a group of students who like to read like me and write essays. Bill (my English teacher last year), some students and I helped establish it and our president is Kris. I am the club treasurer even though I'm not really good at Math, they just assumed I was good at Math because I doubled up on my math last and this year.

After School, I see Bob sometimes who still sells marijuana as a small business and I've been helping him grow seeds in his backyard along with the help of Brandon. Brandon is mainly the guy I hang out with the most along with his cousin, Lorenzo who isn't an honor student like he is but he knows his way around the streets. Lorenzo is basically everything Brandon isn't, he's cool, street-smart and overall a bad ass. Lorenzo helps with the business by being our "muscle man" but we haven't really used him yet for that purpose, he does smoke a lot of pot though.

The business earned us nothing more than a few bucks on the side, and it was during the summer when I took that job at that one Yogurt place, it gave me an excuse to why I had so much money if my parents found out. Though most of the money earned was spent on either pot or albums from old bands. I hide my money underneath my bed floorboards, I take it that it was an inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart.

I guess sell pot with Brandon because we have nothing else to do with our time in dull suburbia, we had good grades already. To Brandon, that was more than an excuse to go out and start misdemeanors and then felonies, our good grades were essentially our alibis if we were to ever be caught.

Other than that, I don't really hang out with anyone besides all of those people I just named but participating or reading is what keeps me away from those bad thoughts. Like the thoughts which drive me to turmoil as I feel like my world is collapsing, the state of disdain complete desolation, it is the feeling of boredom. If anything, I am glad that I'm no longer seeing things anymore, I haven't seen a psychiatrist in a while.

I think the friends I miss the most are Sam and Patrick, I miss going out and seeing The Rocky Picture Horror Show, it just isn't the same since they left and occasionally I go and act and talk to people but it just isn't the same. What makes

Like a few weeks ago Sam came to visit me again and we went to Schenley Park to hang out. It was just me and Sam, but we didn't really kiss that time. Seeing her again makes me happy, but the moment she has to go, I feel sad as if I wanted her to stay a bit longer before she goes back to Penn State. We also talked about seeing other people while we were away, but in all honesty, there's nobody I'd want more than Sam. I think about her almost everyday and we also send to letters probably 4 times a week. I just wish she could be beside me, this feeling was even worse my Sophomore year, but I guess this pain is something you get used to. You don't just get used to pain, you make room for it somewhere.

Sam is pursuing a Business Degree and she hopes to buy a record store that sold lots of albums, especially from the bands she liked in High School. I still listen to some of those bands, but now I also try to be more open-minded to other music such as classical. It was Brandon who got me into it and ever since then I've been listening to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony almost everyday.

On the side of being friends/business partners with Brandon I've also doubled up on my math classes last year, as if math wasn't hard enough but I am now safe to say that I earned an "A" in Geometry but a "B" in my Advanced Algebra class. My math teacher (who was my teacher for both my math classes) told me that there are students who can understand Geometry pretty well but not Algebra and there are students who can understand Algebra better than Geometry. I guess I was one of those people who did well in Geometry but not as well in Algebra. The best part about that class was when I could draw figures and solve them, and often when I was bored, I'd make diagrams or patterns and try to solve them. Hard task to accomplish and half of the time I was wrong.

English always made more sense to me, during summer I read Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It's a book which (as I quote from an essay I wrote during summer). "defines the inner beast that lies within human nature, it is the complex topic which involves the examination of not only human nature but it's causes, effects and manifestations of evil." The book overall was great and it got me thinking again about human beings and why is it that we choose to take control and advantage over other human beings, not a complete thought yet, but I'd figure I'd give it some time. It is a theme which Golding does seek to provide a lesson in morality.

Anyway, I am now taking Precalculus and AP Statistics to get my math out of the way and I've been studying more than ever to pass those classes, I've also even taken reading more books because I'm in AP English too. Others books I read are about math to help me understand it better but it never really did. Math is puzzling, some may have the affinity to do math but I don't.

Math is like trying to find out if a girl likes you, you may think you have the answer but you really don't, especially when you follow procedure. And I haven't really had a girlfriend since Mary Elizabeth and Sam (even though we never really "went out") which left me a little bit lonely but I'm doing fine. I know in the future I can maybe get into another relationship, but that's not really bothering me right now.

What's bothering me is that I'm starting to have bad dreams except now I don't remember them when I wake up. It will be the same thing, I wake up in the middle of the night scared and I burrow myself under a blanket as if something was out to get me and then covering my eyes as if bright lights were flickering in my eyes. I don't know what it means, but it sure isn't good, this happens every week or so. I can't really explain what I feel, because I don't really know how to explain it. It's just something that scares me sometimes and I'm glad I could talk to you about it. I would write to Sam but I don't want to scare her.

I will talk more about what is happening, but it's a late, Tuesday night. I will talk to you again soon. Promise.

Love always,

Charlie.

Written: Monday, December 22, 2014

Finished: Monday, December 22, 2014

Edited: N/A

I know it's a slow start, but it'll get more interesting. I promise.


	3. Chapter 2: The Deal

September 5, 1993

Dear friend,

Brandon and I hung out again to talk about stuff after school by his truck and he talked about school (the academic stuff) and about the Buffalo Bills which is something he really is fond of, like really. Sometimes he would spend all an hour or two just talking about them and how they were going to win the Superbowl one day which is something even I tease about. Brandon's truck was given to him by his dad when he turned 16 as a promise that he'd go to a good school and not work in construction like his dad did. I met Brandon's dad and he is a lot like my dad except he's quiet. The quiet-cool guy type like you see in old Cowboy movies about Clint Eastwood.

Anyway, I've been hanging out with Brandon (in case you were wondering) since we were both taking P.E. during the summer following my Freshman Year, they were for kids who either didn't take P.E. or didn't pass which is weird because I didn't know how someone could fail P.E. The reason why I took it was because I wouldn't take it my next semester during the spring.

Brandon was the other person besides me who wasn't really talking to anyone much and so I decided to say hi and talk to him and then he introduced me to his friends who were taking other classes (Brandon was taking P.E. for the same reasons I was). After School, they all liked to play cards like 21 and would sometimes play with money and drink or get high. It was all like the things they talked about or did when I used to go to parties with Sam and Patrick, you know, teenagers stuff like talking about girls or smoking pot. Mainly, smoking pot. The weed was provided by Bob and not by anyone else outside of our "Card Circle" as Herald likes to call it. David likes to keep it that way.

The leader of our group is David who is calm and we call him 'main ace' because he was the coolest and because he was the 'main guy', there really was no in-between position he could belong to. Herald said he was the 'perfect' man because he thought that any girl would want to date him because he was smart, handsome and social but even I knew that really wasn't true. I sense that deep down, David can be annoying or crazy sometimes behind the quietness but he still seems to be the coolest and knows the most people out of everyone in our little group. Then there's George, the "king of kings" as we joked about, or the "the king" because he was the type of person who was second-in-line. Followed by: Harold with the crazy hair and red jacket, he was the Queen; Then Brandon, the Jack of hearts because he was in-love with our English teacher last year; And finally me, Charlie. Just Charlie.

Anyway, Brandon and I became close friends when we used to talk about ideas about people or subjects we were both interested in. Then I used to recommend him books that he eventually liked. Then we talked about the books we both read while we walked the track or played for shooting hoops when the other kids weren't using the courts, that's how we both figured out that we were very much alike and we both became friends easily. Brandon is also an honor student like me who is quiet but not as shy because he can make a presentation without stuttering. He is probably the best friend since Michael who I still miss very much. Bill told me that it's quiet people who have the loudest minds, I guess that's directed at both of us. Not that we're really that smart but because we like to talk about things we learn about.

Anyway, that was the type of stuff we talked about after school. Them, Brandon and I got into the truck and planned to head to Harold's house because that's what we always did on Fridays. But before he started the ignition he told me about how there's someone else who wants to sell with us. His name is Jacob, Jacob is the type of person you meet for the first time and automatically know that he's a very social person. Jacob is the president of the Criminal Justice Academy which was started by our crazy History teacher, Mr. Freund (which is German for "friend") and has been since his sophomore year. In his junior year, he said his farewell speech to the seniors during graduation. Jacob is a Senior now and is wrapping up his last year and now he wants to sell pot with us?

"Listen, Charlie." Brandon asked, he looked at me straight in the eyes and very seriously. Brandon never usually does that because he's busy being sarcastic all the time.

"What's up" I said.

"What are you thinking."

"Well, for starters…" I said, I really then just to decide to say what's on my mind. "I got a bad feeling about this. What's in it for us having someone else with us? Jacob is a good guy-n-all and an honor student, but this was intended to be a business among ourselves. You know, like self-supply. I just thought you said it was just between the four of us dealing with people we knew."

"Yeah, I know and I talked to Lorenzo and he said he'd be cool with it. Bob said it was okay because he'd be able to sell a few more bucks." He said before he leaned in on me as if trying to ask very politely. "Come on, Charlie. You've been with me everywhere so far these past years and I'll never forget what you did for me. You think you could make a few more bucks with me?"

"Alright then. I'll think about it."

"Okay," He said in an unstressed manner, he then took his hands and put them on the steering while of his car after starting the ignition. "Just have an answer by this weekend."

"Okay." I said and that was that. There was nothing else to say but I thought about it on our way to Harold's house. I didn't really know what to really think about it, I mean we'd be making more money wouldn't we? What would be the risk of just inviting someone else into the small business?

In all honesty, I didn't know how this all started. This "business." Incidentally, it happened before even I was there, or even before how I introduced them all to Bob which is how we started to sell pot to fellow students that we knew pretty well. What made me feel uncomfortable was getting out of that comfort zone we once were in. Not only could we be meeting and dealing with people that we didn't know, we were increasing our chances of getting caught. This concerned me a little but Brandon said it was nothing to worry about because we were honors students and that nobody would suspect a thing.

Both Brandon and everyone else said it was because it was suburbia and that we had nothing else to do with our time other than studying, he said it was all bullshit how teachers expected students to have perfect grades without being bored of doing the same thing over and over again. So much was already going on because of studying, why, not take a break?

David said he did it because of the money and thought he could save up before he went to college. Everybody else in the group did it for very similar reasons. Brandon's cousin, Lorenzo and Bob mainly did it for the money. Everyone else just went along with it, even me eventually which wasn't really a big deal to them all.

For them, "the business" really happened in the 6th grade with some stolen baseball cards then slowly escalated to shoplifting and then pretending to return the merchandise they had on their receipts, only to return inventory that already belonged to the store. You see, this was a very practical and somewhat discreet method in order to basically rob the store. And all together they had made over 4000 dollars doing all of that and a lot of it was spent on our own "Card Circle." That, or mainly weed.

It's a method they still use sometimes and I would often help out a little bit when I first met Brandon. Like this one time, we went into the local computer store to buy a lot computers parts and I mean a lot of computer parts which was worth another 200 dollars.

While walking out, Brandon stored the merchandise into Lorenzo's car. Then we gave the receipt to Lorenzo who pretended to be his brother and waited outside, carefully looking into the store windows from Lorenzo's car to see if the coast was clear so that the person at the counter would leave her shift while another took her place. The moment that happened, Lorenzo and Brandon left with the receipt as a list of everything they needed to pick up from the store.

They were parts that already belonged to the store and were simply given to the store cashier as returned items. Lorenzo simply told the cashier who wasn't even paying attention that Brandon was his brother who bought "all of this computer stuff that he couldn't even afford" and gave them their money. That was the first time they had ever done that with me helping and they supposedly have been doing it every month or so since the 8th grade.

Local stores were the easiest to apply this method simply because they most likely didn't have the technology to catch us, but I always felt bad because we were stealing from people who were trying to make a living. I wouldn't feel as bad if we were stealing from a big company.

We did the same thing at a local Best Buy that just opened up and I swear I thought we were going to be caught because Harold was trying to flirt with some girl he just met. We got away with over 1000 dollars worth of merchandise and dollars, Harold who is crazy said it was "the biggest fucking heist" we ever did before being slapped in the head from George. Days later, suspicions went out and it was one the news one day when I ate dinner with my parents but nobody suspected it would be us. I guess that's what's Brandon meant about people never suspecting a thing because we were honors students. Our straight-As were our alibis for them and the better we seemed to everyone, the less suspicious we would seem.

Maybe earning a little more money from expanding would help out a bit, I mean if we could get away with robbing a store and nobody even suspecting a thing, we could easily get away with selling nothing more than a few pounds of marijuana.

By the time we went to Harold's house, everyone was there waiting for us and we talked about what we usually talked about. Harold brought up how we almost got a girl's phone number but no matter how hard he tries he still can't manage to get a girl who's a "9/10." Harold is sometimes like my brother because at his room, he has pictures of half naked girls, they're both really into the "hotties."

David brought his trucker hat his dad gave him again because they normally don't allow hats at our school, attached to the right side near his temple is the Ace of Spades. George wore another one of his vests, his king of spades laid rest on his collar.

Harold was wearing his red shirt again with the queen of hearts attacked to his left breast, blending in with the redness like it was meant to be there. The cards were taken from the time Lorenzo gave his cousin, Brandon a deck of cards from an old casino in Atlanta, Georgia. Brandon and I just wore our usual attire but Brandon always had his Jack of Spades in his pocket for some reason, we both felt like we were the only normal ones there, well except the fact that I had mental issues early in my life.

The meeting felt not at all different, I mean we talked about the same things like which teacher was the hottest or how high school was bullshit. Then later that night, Brandon had brought up the idea of expanding the business and David informed George and Harold about the rest, David was the first one to know about it.

"Would you fellas be down? We could use the extra cash since we haven't made any money recently." David concluded.

"Fuck yeah man. Think about it, with all the money… Think about all the mad pussy we'd get!" Harold took a quick inhale of his warm cigarette before puffing out a cloud of smoke that scented the room with his nicotine.

"Calm the fuck down Harold" George said.

"What do you think Charlie?" David asked, and everyone then turned to me.

"Yeah, you're the smart one here." George added in a light manner.

"No, I am!" Harold said as he let out a cloud of smoke from his nostrils.

"Shut the fuck up, was I talking to you?" David replied.

"Well, like I told Brandon. I thought this is supposed to be a local thing, were we only sell to people we know like the Clubs at school. And think about it: What if we get caught, would this be worth it?"

"Well, we could use the extra money." Brandon asked. "And who knows, maybe we could actually get away with it. There's no fucking way they'd suspect us and even if they did, they'd deny it."

"Eh, I don't like the idea either." George said, he was probably the only one who sided with me. David was simply neutral and was okay with either decision.

"Extra money! Like I said!" Harold added.

"Shut up, Queen." Everyone said. Eventually, after consideration, we finally agreed to keep the business flowing and slowly expand it but be careful to watch what was going on. Then we went on to playing cards again. The room was once again filled with smoke and again the room was full of normal talk, like which teacher was the hottest or how high school was bullshit.

While playing 21 and having a good time, a piece from Beethoven played, it was the second movement of his 7th Symphony. More specifically, it was called "Allegretto" which was the second movement of the symphony in A Major that filled the lighted room with silence.

Now, I don't mind Beethoven, in fact, I enjoy the classics but this piece was very haunting and normally music doesn't do that to me. That second part of the symphony was in fact very eerie and the piece felt like something bad was going to happen. I don't know why I felt that way, maybe of how slow it was at the start before creeping its way to becoming louder.

When I got home, my parents asked me how my day was and I told them it was alright. I'm still not used to the feeling of now being the only child because my sister is now at Penn State with my brother. Since I'm already now grown up, my dad usually doesn't mind me going out and knows I'm old enough to take care of myself but its my mom who's always worrying about me even if I tell her I'm going out because of studying. I guess moms usually are concerned about their kids no matter what.

That night I went home and crashed onto my bed, I had another nightmare and I couldn't go back to sleep until an hour after I woke up. I'm sorry that was a little long-winded, I'm sure this will or might have some significance later on. That piece from Beethoven is still in my head.

Love always,

Charlie.

**Well, there goes another chapter. I notice this story won't be as popular, but I'll still try to keep writing and improve on my writing skills. **


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